Patton Oswalt Vows to Keep His Late Wife’s Memory Alive for Their 7-Year-Old Daughter

Patton Oswalt is working to preserve his wife Michelle McNamara’s memory for their daughter Alice, after the crime writer’s unexpected death last month. “She approached motherhood with the same bemused optimism she met everything else with,” Oswalt tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “She loved being a mother.” McNamara, founder of the website True Crime Diary, died in her sleep April 21 at age 46. Oswalt, who wed McNamara in 2005, says his wife “knew how hard” parenting was, but that she faced those challenges head on for Alice, 7.

“She was always honest about what frustrated her and exhausted her about it, as well as what her apprehensions were about raising a daughter, especially in this world,” says Oswalt, 47. “She taught me it was okay to be honest and open about those seemingly negative things because, once you gave voice to them? They didn’t seem too bad.” • For more on how Patton Oswalt is honoring his wife Michelle McNamara, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands FridayOne of the things Oswalt admired most about his wife were the creative ways she introduced Alice to a wider world. “She made being a parent fun, which I’m struggling to continue through this shipwreck,” he says. “Reading every night, and planning cool trips, and always scouring the Internet for out-of-the-way weekend activities around Los Angeles. And she has a sprawling legion of Irish siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews. Our daughter, through her, got very comfortable very quickly with meeting different people.”